03: Starcrossed
by Silent Elegy
Summary: It was like a tale from Shakespeare: one tragically murdered, and one a heartbroken suicide. Now, Danny must find a way to stop the starcrossed lovers before Jazz reenacts their history.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom and all related characters are the product of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon studios. Ronan, Julia, Roy, and Kat/Electra are the product Silent Elegy.

* * *

Julia Coppler and Ronan Montagna. One, daughter of the wealthy owner of an influential shipping company. The other, an unknown fisherman of questionable parentage. Julia and Ronan were from two very different worlds; perhaps, their story is an obvious one. 

Ronan first saw Julia walking along the beach, and fell instantly in love. Although she returned his affections, her father did not approve. Theirs was a rich family; Julia would marry for profit, not love. He tried to keep them apart, but they found ways to see each other, until, at last, neither of them could stand it. They made a plan to run away. It was dangerous, but they felt it was necessary.

Ronan would moor his boat at the bottom of a cliff. A small path led up the side almost to Julia's door. At the next good rain, they would flee together, down the cliff and across the Sound to freedom.

All seemed to be going well. The storm wasn't a bad one, and Ronan had little trouble navigating his way through it. He climbed the cliff to meet Julia, grinning like a fool at the thought of their future together. He barely had time to register the three armed men before his body fell to the mud.

Julia watched, in tears, as her father killed her beloved and threw his body into the Sound. He had caught her trying to sneak out, and had called his two best men to help deal with the nuisance once and for all. He thought with Ronan out of the way, Julia would finally do as he said without question. He was wrong.

Her heart not just broken, but shattered, Julia threw herself from her balcony to join her Ronan in eternity. Some say their story ended there. Others know better.

Years later, a young newly-wed couple bought the property. Within the space of a few months, they joined hands and walked into the Sound. Their bodies were never recovered.

The house next belonged to a wealthy businessman who lived alone with his daughter. She was courted by a pleasant enough lad, and her father more than approved. Indeed, he encouraged their relationship. After a time, however, the girl began behaving strangely. She often accused her father of hating her beau and plotting to murder him. Although it was a great shock for most, it came as little surprise to others when the two jumped from the balcony together, the same balcony that had belonged to Julia.

The house was vacant for a time, during which neighbors reported strange lights, and the sounds of a young woman sobbing. To prove their bravery, a boy and his girlfriend snuck into the house one night. They were found some days later in Julia's bedroom. They appeared to have drowned.

Several families owned the house over the years. Each of them suffered some horrible tragedy that mimicked the sad tail of Julia and Ronan. Finally, the house fell into the hands of a wealthy bachelor. It had been vacant for a long time, but that was of little concern to him. If he could afford two houses, he could easily pay for the repairs of a third.

He looked around in satisfaction at the job his workers had done. They were the best money could buy, and it showed. The house had been restored to its original state, save for the plumbing and electricity. It was a very grand affair, complete with a large hanging chandelier in the foyer. Every great house needed a chandelier in the foyer.

"How is it, Mr. Masters?" the foreman remained to ask while his crew loaded the rest of their equipment.

Vlad smiled ominously. "Perfect."

* * *

A/N: There was something I wanted to say, but dang if I can remember what. I also wanted to say, though, that I have no idea how Ronan's last name is pronounced. I just found it on the internet while doing a search for sir names, and thought it made a nice parallel to Romeo's sir name of Montague. Gee, can we tell what the theme of this one is going to be? 

_/some time later/ _Wait, I remembered. Faded, you asked if there was a spark...heh heh...between Danny and Kat. Kat is almost twice his age; she's more of a ghostly big sister than a potential love interest. Although, her role as such hasn't quite stabilized yet, so there could be something right now simply because their of opposing genders. But no. Sorry.


	2. Chapter One

It was not a normal family outing. Anyone with half a brain could see that. A giant, armor-plated RV sat in front of a brick house with some kind of strange mechanical contraption sitting on its roof. Above the door was a large neon sign proclaiming "Fenton Works", with an arrow pointing needlessly towards the house. The RV was being loaded with luggage, including several weapon-like devices of dubious purpose, by two adults wearing hazmat suits while four apparently normal teens watched. "Apparently" being the operative word.

The most normal members of the group were Sam Manson and Tucker Foley. Sam was a vegan goth, whose taste in black and purple attire stood out in wonderful contrast to everything around her. Tucker, by disparity, was a connoisseur of meat, as well as being practically obsessed with all things technological. He was never seen anywhere without his PDA, or his red beret.

Next to these two stood the most mysterious member, Katrina Cadwell, or Kat as she preferred. She wore a black top hat and an eighteen hundred's style duster coat over an extremely old-fashioned white dress shirt and black pants. She carried a copper cane in one hand, which she twirled like a baton. And although she otherwise appeared to be a perfectly normal fourteen year-old, she was, in fact, a twenty-six year-old ghost. At least, they thought she was a ghost; none of them were exactly certain, and she was not inclined to enlighten them.

Slightly in front and standing so as to also face the RV was Danny Fenton. Danny appeared to be the least remarkable of the friends, the perfect cover for his particular brand of abnormality. Thanks to an accident involving one his parents' inventions, he had become the half-ghost Danny Phantom, a state that he relished and loathed in turns.

"Okay, so, Vlad bought this house, and he's loaning it to you guys," Tucker was saying skeptically.

Danny shook his head out of exasperation at the obvious ploy his arch nemesis had devised. "Yeah. Apparently, there's a ghost there that he thought Dad would enjoy hunting."

"You mean, there's a ghost there that he'll enjoy watching as it hunts your dad," Sam corrected him.

"You can't leave," Kat interrupted mock-dejectedly. "Who'll drop sandbags on me if you leave?"

"I only did that once!" Danny defended himself. "And it completely missed you."

Tucker grinned. "Barely."

"Come on, Danny!" his father Jack yelled enthusiastically. "Before we leave without you."

"Oh, what a shame that would be," Danny muttered. "Oh, well. At least it's on the beach."

"You have to call me," Kat announced. "Or I will hunt you down and haunt you."

"Yeah, me, too," Tucker agreed. "Well, except for the haunting part…"

Sam looked at her feet for a second before throwing her arms briefly around Danny's neck. "Be careful, Danny," she said quietly, backing away.

"Aren't I always?" he tried to tease. He didn't quite succeed due to the blush spreading across his features.

His friends started to leave, but Kat froze as though remembering something and turned back. "Hey, if you meet a chick named Elizabeth Cadwell, tell her I'm coming for her."

"What? Why?"

Kat made that Cheshire Cat expression that she got whenever she was tormenting someone. "Just to freak her out." Then she was gone before Danny could inquire further.

"Typical Kat," Jazz sighed, as she came out of the house and walked up behind Danny. "I can't believe she just disappears like in front of Dad."

"Oh, that's nothing," Danny informed her quietly as they climbed in the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle. "A few days ago, we were at the Nasty Burger, and she just vanished in front of everybody. _And no one noticed_. If I did that…" He trailed off; it hardly needed to be said what would happen.

"Okay, kids," Maddie interrupted their exchange. "Now, just because you're getting out of school for a few days doesn't mean you can slack off on your studies. Danny, I want you to start reading through your text books on the way." Danny grumbled something, but acquiesced. If he was going to be completely honest with himself, he could use the time. Things weren't quite as bad as they had been now that he had his ghost powers under control, but he was still somewhat behind the rest of the class due to the constant parade of spectral villains that marched through his parents Ghost Portal.

Kat had graciously agreed to take care of them while he was away. He wished she would help while he was around, but she refused on the grounds that she hated violence. He had since learned that was a complete lie; Kat loved nothing more than showing off her abilities in as grandiose a way as possible. It usually involved throwing SUVs around with her mind.

Danny had first met the strange girl in the Nasty Burger on a day that had since ceased to exist; time travel had been involved. He had shortly thereafter learned that she was the daughter of one his more annoying enemies, Nikolai Technus. He was still unsure as to the particulars of her existence, and was further unsure that he even wanted to know. All he cared about was that she was his friend, a fact that she proved by appearing to help defeat her father when he and the ghostly rock star Ember had joined forces to take over Amity Park.

That was, quite literally, the most help he had ever gotten from her. She wouldn't even help with his homework, despite his begging and nagging. Although she was worse at math than he was, she was a genius in just about every other subject. He repressed a laugh in memory of the day he had jokingly asked if she got her brains from her mother.

"My mother is a conceited dimwit," she had said jovially. "I inherited my intelligence from Dad."

Danny had raised an eyebrow at that. "Kat," he had said skeptically. "Your dad is an idiot."

She had grinned at that. "Maybe so. But he's a smart idiot. You just can't tell because he's such an airhead." He continued to be dubious of that idea.

By the time they reached the city limits, Danny had made about half of a page's progress. He found himself reading the same few lines over and over in his boredom at the subject and decided to stare out the window for a while. It was a lovely view of grass, trees, and telephone poles; nothing interesting there.

Suddenly, it clicked, and Danny had to mentally smack himself. Kat had told him her mother's name. Not only that, but she had confirmed that her mother was still alive. Of course, he trusted her by now, but he was still dying to know who she really was. He resolved to locate this Elizabeth Cadwell and tried to go back to his Literature book.

Some time later, he gave up with a disgusted sigh and looked over at his sister, the aspiring therapist. Or was it psychiatrist? He could never remember. She was staring out the window in boredom, having also given up on her psychology tome. With a quick glance to ensure that his parents were excitedly chattering about their destination, he said quietly, "Hey, Jazz?"

She looked at him with that slightly worried look that she always got when he began a conversation at that volume. It usually meant he wanted to talk about something he didn't want their parents to overhear, and was important enough that he wasn't willing to wait until they were gone.

He had not actually thought this far ahead, and so took a moment to measure his words before he continued. "You know if Vlad invited us out there, it means he's going to try something, right?"

She smiled, a little sadly it seemed, and covered his hand with her own. "Don't worry," she assured him. "I'll cover for you if you need to…you know…" She jerked her head slightly toward their father, thereby indicating that she understood Danny might need to "go ghost" and save Jack. Danny returned her smile and relaxed back into the seat.

Vlad Masters had been trying to kill Jack for some time now out of revenge for causing an accident he claimed ruined his life. From Danny's point of view, Vlad should be worshipping the ground his dad walked on. Because of an accident similar to Danny's own, Vlad had also been granted ghost powers. He had since become one of the richest people in the world. Of course, without the love of his life, he was also the loneliest. Unfortunately, the love of his life was Maddie Fenton. This, of course, created a whole slew of problems and somewhat explained the older half-ghost's hatred of Jack.

Danny had been a half-ghost for several months now; Vlad had been one for twenty years. If they were forced to fight, there was no question that Vlad would win. He was Danny's superior in every way: faster, stronger, more skilled, and more powerful in general. Still, if it came to a fight for his father's life, Danny would not back down. Even if it meant facing certain death himself, he would fight Vlad. He had too.

It didn't make him any less terrified of the prospect.

He listened to his parents talk about Seattle, Washington's version of Romeo and Juliet for some time and sighed. Why couldn't he have had normal parents?

* * *

A/N: I used to live in Federal Way, WA. That's where this one is taking place. In point of fact, it's taking place on the very cliffside I used to live at the bottom of, simply because I know the area so well. Man, I miss Poverty Beach...

Faded, remember in the last one? Danny finds Kat's grave? It says she was born in 1979? _/grins/_ Don't worry about it. I have to read through the last two stories every time I start a new chapter almost to make sure I'm not forgetting any vital points. I have the attention span of a gnat without my Post-Its.


	3. Chapter Two

After a long and arduous drive during which nothing of note happened, to Danny's disgust, the Fenton family caught their first sight of Puget Sound. The foothills from the Olympic Mountains extended to into Federal Way, making the drive slow to a near crawl on the steep inclines. The peak of each hill was abrupt so that one was unable to catch even a glimpse of what lay on the other side until they had topped the rise. It was at the top of one such rise that the glistening bay appeared as if by magic. The sunset that rendered the sky purple, orange, and red was reflected in the water, making it look like the rendering of some great artist. Maddie called her two children to see the view, but they were already there.

"There's where we're going," she pointed out a large house that sat by itself just off the second "tier" of homes. "You kids can practically walk to the beach from here." She turned then to fix Danny with a stern expression. "But don't think that means you can put off your homework until the last minute."

"Sure, Mom," he answered distractedly. He and Jazz remained plastered to the windows as Jack wound his way around the hairpins turns that made the climb up the cliff side possible. It wasn't until the RV was parked and Danny experienced a sudden chill that turned his breath into a visible fog that he was able to tear himself away. "Vlad," he muttered angrily and let his narrowed eyes momentarily glow green.

Jazz put a hand on his shoulder, though whether it was a gesture of calming or restraint remained to be seen. "Come on, Danny. Let's just unload the bags while they talk. He won't try anything yet." She started to turn, then as an afterthought asked, "Will he?"

Danny shook his head. "Probably not. He doesn't want them find out any more than I do." He sighed out of general angst and collected his bags to follow Jazz.

"Daniel!" Vlad announced happily. Danny cringed; he had been hoping he wouldn't have to pretend to be nice to his arch enemy. "So good to see you again, my boy!" Vlad was apparently trying to win an Oscar.

"Yeah," the boy replied tersely, resisting the impulse to let his eyes turn green in anger. "Great." He ducked through the door of the house, pretending to not hear his parents as they tried to call him over. He looked around reflexively for any visible signs of a trap and was awed in spite of himself.

The floor was a black and white checkered marble that reflected the light from a crystalline hanging chandelier. The far wall opened onto a hallway; he could see a staircase at the end of it. To his left, a pair of French doors stood open to reveal a parlor of sorts, as well as Jazz who was standing before the fireplace, gazing at the portrait of a stern looking man next to an empty chair. To his right was a wall mural featuring the Sound as it must have looked a hundred years ago. He could see two figures standing on the beach, gazing out at the sunset.

"Oh, Vlad," Maddie breathed as the three of them entered. "It's beautiful."

"Yes," he agreed. "I had it restored to its original state; it was quite run down."

"And you're sure you can't stay to catch up on old times, V-Man?" Jack asked, almost plaintively.

Danny turned just in time to see Vlad cover a flinch at the thought. "No, no, my fat, old friend," he replied, perhaps a little too quickly. "Though it pains me to leave you here alone with the ghosts, I fear I must be in Japan as soon as possible." He gallantly kissed Maddie's hand, pretended to not notice Jack try to shake hands in farewell, and swept out. The boy thought that went a little too easily.

* * *

Still too keyed up from the drive to sleep, Danny looked out the window of his temporary room at the light that spilled out across the bay. The sun had set several hours earlier, but the sunset apparently had not been informed of this yet. At midnight, it was still twilight. It felt strange somehow, to look out at the sea through a curtain of rain. Almost as though there was not a thing wrong in the world. It was peaceful. 

The house, it turned out, was three stories with no basement. As he found out, few homes had basements, especially around the water. It had once belonged to the owner of a now defunct and forgotten fishing company, a prestigious status to have a hundred and fifty years ago. Danny's room was on the second floor, while Jazz and his parent's rooms were on the third. Somehow, his sister had unfairly scored the only balcony in the house, directly above Danny's window. It was really very impractical, but very cool, too. Apparently, it was a sign of the original owner's wealth.

It was also the very balcony Julia Coppler had thrown herself from all those decades ago. Jack and Maddie had been talking about it over dinner at the restaurant at the base of the cliff, earning no few curious stares from their fellow patrons. The cliff had been less of a residential area back then. In fact, the Coppler mansion had been the only house there for a long time.

According to the legend, she had fallen to her death to be with her murdered beloved. However, due to the violent natures of their deaths, they were unable to rest in peace until they had gotten their revenge. Never mind that the one responsible had been dead for over a century, they were still here.

Actually, Danny had trouble believing that. His parents had gotten their entire supply of ghost detecting equipment set up in record time. It only showed one ghost in the entire house; a ghost that inexplicably happened to appear in whatever room their son was occupying. After the first nine "false alarms", they had given it up as bad job and gone to bed.

More reliable than ghost alarms, however, was Danny's ghost sense. It hadn't gone off at all, meaning there were no ghosts around. Although, it never picked up Kat, either…

His thoughts were brought to a halt by the sound of a woman crying. It was coming from above, but it didn't sound like Jazz. He jumped into the air and converted to ghost mode simultaneously in order to fly up through the ceiling. Jazz's room was as dark as his, but he could easily see that his sister was still in bed. The crying was coming from the balcony. As soon as Danny floated through the door, it was gone.

"Okay…" he muttered. Had he been hearing things? The noise had been loud, but it didn't seem to have disturbed Jazz in the slightest. Suddenly, the door slammed open and Danny went invisible just in time to avoid being seen by his parents.

"Huh?" Jazz asked sleepily, sitting bolt upright. "Mom? Dad? What are you doing in my room?"

"Sweetie, are you okay?" Maddie asked, dodging the question.

"Is there a ghost?" Jack demanded.

"What are you talking about?" Jazz also demanded, sleep giving way to anger.

"We heard crying," Maddie explained. "It wasn't you?"

"Uh…no. I was asleep."

"So it was a ghost!" Jack announced before anyone could get a word in edgewise.

Danny flew off the balcony in a circular route that took him behind his parents where he changed back into a human. "What's going on?" he asked sleepily and rubbing his eyes for effect.

"There's a ghost in you sister's room!" Jack answered to Maddie's exasperated huff. "Probably the same one chasing you around earlier."

"Jack," Maddie sighed. "It was just the equipment malfunctioning from the drive. Now, come on. That noise must have been coming from outside." She turned her protesting husband around and pushed him back toward their room.

"Was there a ghost?" Jazz asked quietly from her door.

Danny shook his head. "I don't think so. It sounded like a woman out on the balcony crying, but it stopped when I got out there, and my ghost sense wasn't going off."

"Maybe a bird or something, then. 'Night, Danny." She retreated back behind the closed door, leaving her younger brother alone in the hall to become intangible and drop through the floor.

Who needs stairs?

* * *

The next morning found Danny falling asleep over a phone book. There were no fewer than twenty Cadwells in the white pages, none of them named Elizabeth. He was not looking forward to calling them all. 

"Ghost!" Jack yelled, charging into the room with the Fenton Ghost Weasel.

Danny had tried to beg off coming for this very reason, but his parents were unwilling to let him stay home alone, or even with Jazz. Not while they were out of state. If this kept up, they would start to get suspicious. At the moment, all the ghost boy could muster in the way of panic was a tired yawn.

Maddie slid to a wary stop beside her husband and looked around. She sighed and relaxed. "False alarm."

Jack pouted. "Maybe not," he whined. "There could be a ghost following Danny around. Maybe it's the ghost of Julia Coppler."

Danny and Maddie rolled their eyes almost in unison. "Dad, I don't think a hundred and fifty year old ghost is going to be interested in me."

"Come on, dear," Maddie said, dragging her husband from the room.

Danny shook his head and went back to playing "Eenie, Meanie, Miny, Moe" with the phone numbers. He was beginning to wonder if it was worth finding out about Kat's past. Maybe he should just wait until she was ready to tell him, like Jazz had tried to do about his secret.

Yeah, that sounded like a good plan. A good, easier-than-calling-twenty-people plan. Rather than wait for his parents to find the amazing disappearing ghost again, he left the house.

It was raining again, unless it was raining still. The air was chill, enough so that he could see his breath. He thought, at first, that it was his ghost sense going off, but quickly discarded that notion as the few other pedestrians out and about seemed to be experiencing the same phenomenon. He pulled his jacket tighter around himself and started the long walk down to the mostly deserted beach. By the time he got there, he had resolved to fly back up; it was a very tiring walk.

He stopped short and looked around as the voice of his sister called, "Hey, Danny!" She was strolling towards him with an unfamiliar gentleman in tow. "Danny, this is Roy. Roy, my little brother Danny."

"Um…hi," Danny replied uncertainly as he tentatively shook the proffered hand.

Roy grinned in a most friendly manner, revealing teeth that had to have been bleached. He sported a tan that looked like it came from a salon, blonde hair, and a shade of blue eyes that had to have been artificial. He looked like a stereotypical surfer from California, and it was a shock when he spoke that he actually sounded intelligent. "Welcome to Poverty Beach," he said affably.

Danny decided not to hate him on sight and asked, "Why's it called Poverty Beach?"

Jazz giggled slightly, but it was Roy who answered. "Because if you live here, you can't afford much else."

The boy raised an eyebrow as his sister giggled again and blushed. She was love-struck. Great.

"Hey," Roy said as though he had just had an epiphany. "Would you like to join us, Danny? We're just taking a walk."

"Uh…no thanks. Wouldn't want to intrude." He stepped back slightly, Jazz shot him a look of gratitude. She really shouldn't have; the second their backs were turned, Danny went invisible and followed them on their date. He had to look out for his sister, after all.

* * *

A/N: Thanks, all. I would like to point out that, while the house does not actually exist, the cliff does. In fact, it is the neighborhood where I used to live. The cliff isn't actually a sheer rock face, but it almost is. The hairpin turns are the only reason its drivable; without them, you'd be trying to drive almost straight up, a nigh impossible feat.


	4. Chapter Three

Danny laid on his back, staring up at the sky, with a text book propped against his knees, a notebook open on his stomach, and cell phone to his ear. "It rains constantly," he informed his two listeners on the other end. "You'd like it, Sam. It's really gloomy."

"So it's not any fun?" Tucker asked half-heartedly.

"Well, it's alright. I mean, it's worth it just for the view, but it's too cold for anyone to be enjoying the beach."

"You are so lucky you missed out on today," Sam broke in. There was the sound of muffled laughter, then, "Dash almost blew up the school, and _we_ had to stay and clean it up so that _he_ wouldn't be late for gym."

"I don't know, guys," Danny replied skeptically. "I think I'd still rather be there than here putting up with Mom and Dad's ghost hunting."

Tucker made a sympathetic noise. "That bad, huh?"

"I swear, if Dad charges into my room one more time yelling 'Ghost!' I'm going to go ghost! Then I'm going to scream!"

He could hear Sam's grin as she asked, "A normal scream, or a Ghostly Wail?"

He snorted. "Pick one." A noise caught his attention, and he tilted his head back to see a Boeing 747 coming straight at him; he shook his head and went intangible until it passed through him.

"What the heck was that noise?" Tucker demanded in a startled tone.

"The inside of a trans-Atlantic flight heading back to Sea-Tac airport."

There was the mumbling of a message being passed on, then the sounds of laughter in the background joined with Sam and Tucker's. After a few seconds, Sam said, "Kat wants to know how high you are."

Danny rolled slightly to see the ground without disrupting his homework. "I can't tell. The clouds are in the way." More laughter greeted this only slightly serious statement. He grinned. "What? If I hover below them, I'll get wet. Hey, can you put Kat on?"

"Just a sec," Sam laughed. There was some muffled discussion punctuated by Tucker trying, and failing, to stop laughing. Apparently, whatever was being discussed in Sam's house was the height of hilarity as the girl was in the same situation.

"She says she's not talking to you," Tucker relayed around snickering.

"What?"

"She says you just want to ask about homework."

Danny gave a muttered "Darn it" and responded, "Tell her I just want to ask about…about…her mom."

His bright idea had the intended effect. Mere moments later, Kat's excited voice exclaimed, "Oh, did you find her?"

"Did you know there's about twenty Cadwells in Federal Way?"

A paused, then, "Try looking under Keith. Keith J. if I'm not utterly mistaken."

Danny made a note of that at the top of his page as he started to ask, "So what's the formula for-"

"Goodbye, Danny," Kat cut him off, foregoing her usual parting in favor of a sarcastic lilt.

"Yeah, we'd better go, too," Sam told him regretfully.

"Say 'Hey' to the family for us," Tucker added.

Danny promised to do so, then shoved his books into the backpack he'd brought to keep them dry. He looked around the featureless sky one last time, loath to give up the peace, and dropped below the clouds. The rain had picked up since he left, making him fall in love with the power of intangibility all over again. Without it, he would have been drenched in seconds.

He made his slow, leisurely way down to the boring ground and, after finding a relatively dry and hidden place to change back, ducked through the door of Vlad's new house and stopped. He looked around furtively and wondered if something had happened. For the past two days, every time he walked into the house he was ambushed by his father. In light of the ghost hunting equipment tracking Danny without fail, Maddie had come around to Jack's idea that he was being followed by a ghost. So far, they weren't suspicious that he was one, but that could change at any moment.

Although part of him hesitated to press the issue, the rest of him was getting very concerned. This was, after all, one of the homes of his worst enemy. "Anybody here?" he yelled. Immediately, something heavy and burning dropped over him. He clamped his mouth shut as his parents jumped out of nowhere and hoped they would mistake his pain for anger.

"Did we get it?" Jack asked eagerly.

Her expression one of the utmost frustration, Maddie replied, "No, dear. It's just Danny. The ghost must have gotten away." Her husband contrived to look like a disappointed puppy as she pulled the net off of Danny.

"Right," Danny said. "I'm going to go my room now."

As he ran up the stairs in a record-breaking sprint, he heard Jazz say, "See? My parents are insane."

He could only assume it was her new boyfriend Roy who replied because he had just slammed his door shut and collapsed against it. His arms were starting to turn red where the net had touched him, and by the way it felt, his face was doing the same. "Great," he muttered, sliding down to the floor. "Thank you, Mom and Dad, for inventing a net that burns ghosts."

And weakened them apparently. As he started to stand, his legs collapsed underneath him. "Remind me again why keeping this from them is a good idea?" he asked the empty room. "Oh, yeah. They're ghost hunters; I'm part ghost."

After a few minutes, a knock on his door heralded the arrival of his sister. "Danny, are you okay?" she asked worriedly through the door.

"Where's Mom and Dad?" he returned.

"Downstairs. And Roy went home. It's just me."

"...I'd let you in, but I'm leaning against the door."

Jazz wisely decided not to pursue the issue. He heard a shuffling noise, and when she spoke, her voice came from right next to his head, confirming that she was sitting against the door as well. "So what do you think of Roy?" she asked in a fond, faraway tone.

"Jazz, you ask me that question almost every time you see me," he replied. "I guess he's alright."

"Dad doesn't like him."

"Well, you are his only daughter. He's just being protective."

Jazz sighed mournfully. "No, I think he really hates him. I could definitely sense some hostility there."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Of course, he's being hostile. He's Dad."

"I know, but this is different."

Danny waited for a moment, but Jazz didn't elaborate. He shrugged and fought his way to his feet. "Listen, Jazz. I'm just going to try to sleep this off for a while."

"Okay," she answered, standing as well. "Don't be surprised if Mom or Dad comes barging in around six. We're eating at Salty's again."

He thanked her for the warning and gratefully crashed onto the bed. Within minutes, a few hours had passed.

* * *

Danny opened bleary eyes onto an unfamiliar room. The walls were covered in parchment colored paper with black and white photographs strewn over every available surface. Then, the image was gone, to be replaced by white paint and bare furniture. He rubbed his eyes and tried to figure out what had awakened him. 

Once his brain kicked in again, he noticed that everything felt off somehow. His ghost sense wasn't active, but he felt like it should be. Then the sobbing from the night before began again. This time, rather than go through Jazz's room to the balcony, Danny went straight outside and up. He was invisible this time, as well, which is quite possibly the only reason he saw the woman on the balcony.

"Jazz?" he called tentatively, fading back into focus.

"Father hates him," the apparition whispered. She looked up suddenly, and all resemblance to his sister vanished to be replaced by a seaweed-tangled corpse whose loose black hair and sepia toned clothing swayed as if under water. It reached for Danny with a green claw-like hand.

Danny lunged away and threw an ectoplasmic energy blast. With an outraged howl, the creature burned into nothing, but things still felt wrong, as though whatever was in the house was still there. After making sure Jazz wasn't harmed, Danny went invisible and intangible to fly a grid pattern around the house. His ghost sense never went off, but the feeling that it should be remained. He checked the foyer last. There was still nothing out of place, although the sounds of the surf seemed louder…

He spun in place to face the wall mural. It seemed to be moving even as it hadn't changed in the slightest. Looking at it made him a little dizzy, but he floated closer to look at the two figures. There was only one.

"Father killed him," the apparition whispered from everywhere at once. Suddenly, everything seemed perfectly back to normal, except for the lone figure in the mural. Danny went to check on Jazz again, but she seemed to be sleeping peacefully. He returned to his room and a very uneasy night.

* * *

A/N: Man, I wish I lived in that house. It'smy dream home, although in my head, its actually on the beach.It doesn't really exist. So, first Faded and now Faith. I've started a trend. Cheerio!


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

It actually stopped raining. Truly a sign of the apocalypse. Poverty Beach could never be considered to be teeming with people, but there were a few taking advantage of the break in weather. Two such individuals were taking a stroll, hand in hand, along the edge of the surf.

"I don't think your dad likes me very much," said Roy, so very perceptive.

Jazz shrugged. "Well…he's just being Dad," she imitated Danny from the day before in an unconvinced voice.

"I just don't want you to go, Jazz." He stopped and took her hands. "I want you to stay here with me."

"And I want to," she assured him, gazing up into his blue contact lenses. "But Mom and Dad would never go for that." She laid her head against his chest to allow him to fold his arms around her, while above and slightly behind them, her little brother quietly mimed throwing up.

How long they stood like that, Danny was no mood to contemplate, but finally they did break apart. "We'll think of something," Roy murmured. "We could run away together."

Okay, time to this break up. Danny flew out over the water and aimed an energy blast at just such an angle that the lovebirds were inexplicably drenched by the splash. Jazz squealed and stumbled back from the water. Roy did not squeal, but he did fall over trying to back away. He stood and shook himself out, then laughed slightly. "Must have been one ticked off gooey duck."

Jazz glared suspiciously at the edge of the bay for a moment before acknowledging the quip with a small smile. "I better go home and dry off," she sighed. "See you later?"

Danny groaned inwardly and turned around to gag as they kissed. After he judged a suitable time had passed, he cautiously turned back around to see that his sister and her boyfriend had parted company, and took off for the house. He peeked through the wall of his room to make sure his parents were elsewhere. Seeing that they were, he settled himself at the small corner desk to pretend he had been working on homework the whole time. He was actually making pretty decent headway considering he hadn't learned any of it yet.

About twenty minutes went by during which he wondered if he should go looking for his sister. Suddenly, the door slammed open. "You were following me!" said entity accused angrily.

Danny turned in his chair, the picture of hurt innocence. "I would never spy on you," he lied.

"Right, so the green flash of light I saw just before we got splashed was a gooey duck."

"Might have been," the boy agreed, trying not to laugh.

Jazz stomped in the room. "That wasn't funny, Danny. Next time it happens, I'm telling Mom and Dad."

The threat worked. "Telling them what?" Danny demanded fearfully. Rather than answer, Jazz gave a patronizing smile and walked out. "Jazz, what are you going to tell them?" Danny called after her.

"Don't follow me," Jazz answered in her sickeningly sweetest voice. "And you'll never have to find out."

"That's blackmail!"

"I prefer extortion. 'Bye, Danny."

And then Danny understood why none of the other superheroes had siblings.

* * *

It had started raining again. The moon was not out, but the light from long-gone sun as it bounced between the water and clouds created more than enough radiance. The rain just barely covered the world in an ethereal haze. It would have been a moving sight if anyone had been paying attention.

On the outside wall above the glass door that led between Jazz's room and the balcony was perched an invisible fly who wished his quarry would hurry up and show. It was almost midnight, and he was tired. He repressed yet another yawn and considered calling it a night until the door opened. He snapped to attention as Jazz walked onto the balcony. She appeared to be sleepwalking.

Danny was about to call out before he remembered that sleepwalkers shouldn't be awakened. He couldn't remember why right off, but he didn't want to play roulette with his sister's well-being. He just hoped she wasn't being overshadowed.

The feeling of something wrong hit him hard as Jazz leaned on the rail and looked out to the sea. Danny floated next to her as much to catch her should she be influenced to jump as to find out what she was looking at.

"We could run away," Jazz whispered. She seemed to be speaking to a lone person on the beach. She stretched out her arms and leaned farther into the balcony rail.

Deciding that enough was enough, Danny reappeared and grabbed the nearest arm. "Jazz, wake up!"

She blinked and took a step back, then collapsed. Danny caught her before she hit floor and carried her back to bed, then ducked into his room to get his cell phone. Sam was going to murder him, but he needed answers. He shot back into Jazz's room as he hit the speed dial; she hadn't moved.

"Come on, Sam," he muttered. "Pick up."

The ringing stopped at last and a bleary voice said, "You know I'm going to murder you for this right?"

"Sam, I need you to find Kat right now!" he exclaimed so quickly that his words almost ran together. "Jazz is in trouble!"

Once that sank in, Sam said in a much more awake voice, "I'll call you back when I find her."

"Right. Check her garage first; she usually goes there after karaoke night."

"…Do I want to know why you know that?"

"She told me," he replied dryly. "Just hurry, please!"

It took fifteen minutes to get from Sam's house to the parking garage where Kat liked to hang out for some reason. Danny spent the entire time alternating between pacing and reassuring himself that Jazz was still breathing. Twenty minutes later, the phone rang. "Sam?"

"Kat," replied the voice on the other end. "What's with Jazz?"

Danny relaxed marginally. Kat may or may not have been a ghost, but her father definitely was one. She knew considerably more about them than even Jack and Maddie. "What kind of a ghost wouldn't set off my ghost sense?" he demanded. After a short pause, he practically yelled, "I know what I'm asking; just answer the question!"

"Okay, okay," Kat placated quietly. She hemmed and hawed for a moment while she tried to think. "Okay! Tell me exactly what's going on."

Danny took a deep breath, although whether he was trying to collect his thoughts or control his temper was up for debate. He began with the crying that had awakened everyone except Jazz. He told her about the possible ghost on the balcony and the feeling he kept getting. Finally, he told her about the mural before ending with the nights events. Kat was completely silent throughout the telling and for a few seconds afterwards. Danny was about to snap at her when she spoke again.

"Okay. This ghost is trying to possess Jazz for some reason. Without knowing what it's thinking, I can't hazard a guess. The reason it doesn't just move in and take over is probably because it's too far away, which also explains why you can't sense it. All you can do is pick up on its influence. There's something in or near the house that it's connected to, and using as a medium. Find it, and you may find your ghost. Or at least a better clue."

She hung up, signaling an end to the conversation. "Darn it, Kat!" Danny exclaimed. He faced the balcony as he considered; he had a pretty good idea what the ghost was working through, but it still didn't help much. He heard the bed creak behind him and turned just in time to see a blast of blue energy before everything went dark.


	6. Chapter Five

"Danny," said a voice. It sounded familiar.

"I'll bet it was a ghost!" exclaimed a second voice.

"Jack, not now! He's coming around."

Danny blinked and looked uncomprehendingly up at his mother. There was something… "Jazz?" he muttered.

"She's gone," Maddie replied quietly. "Sweetie, what happened?"

"There was a ghost…" His brain was slowly resuming normal function. "I tried to save her…"

"Jack, go warm up the RV!" Maddie ordered her husband, who was already doing just that. "Are you going to be alright by yourself, Danny?" she asked worriedly.

He nodded as he pulled himself into a sitting position. "Yeah, I'll be fine." Seeing the continued concern, he grinned and added, "If any ghosts come back, I'll just suck them into the Ghost Weasel."

Maddie returned the smile half-heartedly, and considered having him come with them in the RV. But if it attacked him once, it might do so again. She didn't want to put him in danger. "Don't leave the house," she admonished him. Once he gave his word, she nodded decisively and dashed out the door.

Danny stood carefully, but he seemed to be alright. He waited several nerve-racking minutes for his parents to leave before invoking his ghost form; he couldn't risk them coming back, after all. He had a feeling he knew where Jazz was going. Any investigation into the wall mural would have to wait.

Every single person who had ever lived in this house had either jumped off the balcony or walked into the bay. Danny had stopped the former; the ghost of Julia must have knocked him out to accomplish the latter. Outside, he caught a glimpse of his Dad taking the hairpin turns a little too fast and spared a moment to roll his eyes. They were adults; they could take care of themselves.

As expected, Jazz was walking across the beach toward someone Danny suspected was Roy, probably being controlled by Ronan. Why they felt the need to reenact their deaths was beyond him, but it was time to put an end to it. He pushed himself to go faster as the two would-be victims strolled casually into the surf.

"Jazz!" he yelled. "Snap out of it! You're being controlled!"

She faltered slightly and started to turn, but Roy tugged on her arm. They barely made another step before Danny was there, lifting them back out the water.

"No!" Jazz/Julia yelled, struggling. "Let us go!"

"Not on your life," Danny replied.

"Release us," Roy/Ronan growled. "Or face the consequences."

"Get out of my sister and her boyfriend, and you can do whatever you want." He deposited them at the very edge of the beach and floated between them and the waves.

They looked at each other, the very picture of rage. When they turned back, their eyes glowed a familiar shade of blue-green, the same color as the water in the mural. Danny was unimpressed. "We're doing them a favor," Ronan said.

Danny lifted an eyebrow. "By getting them killed?"

"We wouldn't expect a child like you to understand," Julia replied in a snide tone.

"You're right," the ghost boy agreed. "I don't. So we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." He lifted his hands to display the charged power. "Get out, or I force you out."

The two exchanged glances again, then looked at him scornfully. "You would harm them just to get rid of us?" Ronan asked skeptically.

Danny grinned. It was the same Cheshire Cat expression he often saw on Kat's face. "Oh, this won't hurt them a bit."

They considered that for a few minutes. After Danny prompted them a second, they closed their eyes, and the humans fell to the ground. The boy threw himself down at his sister's side, fearfully begging for her to be alright.

She blinked and looked up at him. "Danny?"

Next to her, Roy sat up slowly and looked around. "How did I get out here?"

"You were possessed," Danny explained. Receiving only a blank look from Jazz's boyfriend, he explained further. "By ghosts."

The two teens stood and dusted themselves off, then Roy laughed. "Oh, I don't believe in ghosts."

"Um…" Jazz started to say something. She looked over at Danny, hovering several inches above the ground, and marveled at the human mind's ability to delude itself instead.

Danny snickered and patted her on the shoulder. "You sure know how to pick 'em, don't you?"

"Oh, shut up, D…ah…ghost boy whom I've never seen before…" She turned her attention back the mildly perplexed Roy. "Come on, let's just go back home."

"Stay, please," said a voice.

"We're not through yet," a second finished.

Danny interposed himself between the apparitions and Jazz and Roy. He recognized Julia immediately, and was also able to see that her neck was tilted at an odd angle, as though it had been broken. Ronan also appeared as a green-skinned, seaweed tangle corpse, additionally sporting several of what could only be describe as gunshot wounds. They were the first ghosts Danny had ever seen that looked like they did at the time of death. It was chilling.

They still weren't setting off his ghost sense; that was the second thing he noticed. Either they were like Kat and simply didn't, or these were just projections. Either way, they were a threat. "And here I thought you smart enough to run," he quipped.

"You're the one who should be running, little boy," Julia informed him arrogantly.

"No one can resist our power," Ronan went on.

They joined hands, then raised their free hands as if to point. Danny threw up a shield to protect Jazz and Roy while part of his mind recognized the blue ectoplasmic energy he had been shot with earlier. Blue energy…like water…

"Guys, get out of here!" he snapped at the two humans. He could hear Roy protesting about something, but he had other things to worry about. He fired two energy blasts at his enemies and dove out of the way of their retaliation. "Why would you do this?" he demanded. "Why kill innocent people?"

"To save them," Julia answered. It almost sounded like she was begging him to understand.

"Lives are fleeting," Ronan continued. "We give them eternity."

"Whether they want it or not?" Danny asked rhetorically. He realized they were backing away as they fought, leading him towards the water. Clearly the Sound was important to them, but why? It seemed significant.

He dove through the ground to come up directly behind him. They clearly were not expecting the attack; Ronan pushed Julia behind him to take the brunt of Danny's kick. Before the boy could recover his balance, Ronan caught him by the ankles. As he started to lash out with his fists, Julia caught him by the wrists.

"You should have stayed away," one of them said; Danny didn't pay much attention to which one. "We had no quarrel with you. Now…"

Whatever they were planning was cut off by the roar of an RV in overdrive. The three ghosts broke apart to dodge out of the way as the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle skidded to a stop right where they had been fighting. Maddie leaned out the window, Ghost Bazooka in hand. "Attack our children, will you?" she yelled. Ronan was closest to her side, so he was the first to go. Julia screamed angrily and vanished, leaving Danny to give a panicked cry as he shot into the sky. Maddie yelled something after him, but he was too far away to hear. He went invisible and headed back to the house.

* * *

"Well, it's not like I wanted it to be harder," Danny said the next day. He and Jazz were sitting on his bed, just talking. He had explained everything as he understood it in the hopes his psychology buff of a sister might be able to give some helpful insight. "I just don't think it's over." 

Jazz mulled over that for a while. "So you think what we saw was just projections sent by the real Ronan and Julia?" At his nod, she put a finger to her chin in a classic thinking posture. "If they can do that and still not be close enough to set off your ghost sense, they must be pretty powerful. Are you sure you should take them on?"

"I have to, Jazz," he insisted. "I can't just walk away from this. Other people could be killed."

"Danny, you could be killed." She sighed and covered his hand, recognizing the stubborn look that he inherited from their father. "I just worry about you."

"If you can figure out why they're doing this, I may not have to fight them." It was good logic; too bad Danny didn't actually believe it. Fortunately, Jazz did. Or pretended to, but it amounted to the same thing.

"Do you know how to get to them?" she asked in defeat.

"I think so."

Jazz nodded and stood. "I have a theory. Let me think about it for a little while, check my books."

As she opened the door to leave, Danny called, "So what did Roy think about last night?"

Jazz rolled her eyes theatrically. "He announced that my family is insane, ghosts don't exist, and that whole fight was a group hallucination. Honestly, I think the only reason I fell for him was Julia's influence."

Danny laughed and turned to attend to the last of his homework. The look of loss in her eyes did not go unnoticed, but having her for a sister had taught him one thing at least. It was better to wait until she was ready to talk.

* * *

A/N: Thank you, everyone, for your words of praise. Faded, it was a little of both. Jack doesn't like Roy by simple merit of the fact that he's interested in Jazz. Julia exacerbated Jazz's put off response to her dad's overprotectiveness to mirror the way she had felt at her own father's reaction to Ronan. 


	7. Chapter Six

The house was dark and still. At last. It had been the slowest day of Danny's life, waiting until his parents went to bed before he could go find Ronan and Julia. He had no idea what would happen, or even if this would work. The stairs creaked as someone walked down them, and Danny went invisible.

"Danny?" Jazz whispered, looking around. "Did you already leave?"

"Not yet," he replied, fading back into view.

She smiled and walked over to put her hands on his shoulders. "I just wanted to say good luck," she said, and ruffled his white hair. "You'd better come back."

He feigned irritation as he fixed his hair. "Of course, I'll be back. It's those two ghosts that are going to need luck." He flashed an egotistical grin, became intangible, and fazed through the wall mural.

Looking after him, Jazz saw that not only were both figures present again, they had been joined by a third.

The first thing Danny was aware of was the fact that he couldn't breathe. It was very uncomfortable, but it didn't seem to be hurting him. He took a few steps forward; it felt like he was moving underwater. Then he realized why.

Pale light filtered down from above to illume the floor of the Sound. A school of fish darted through the dappled moonlight to draw his attention to what, at first, looked like seaweed tangled in debris. Moving closer, he saw that the debris was actually a pair of human skeletons, one male and one female to judge by their tattered clothes.

Her father had dumped her body here along with her lover's. He must have tried to convince everyone that she had run away, but someone had found out anyway. Their bodies became tangled in the seaweed and so never floated to the surface. The heavy chains wrapped around them both couldn't have helped matters, either.

And here they stayed for decades, not trying to get revenge, not trying to kill, but simply trying to live again. That was how it started, at least, according to Jazz's theory. They didn't actually intend to reenact their deaths; it was a compulsion they couldn't resist whenever they possessed someone. Over time, they must have grown bitter and began doing it on purpose, trying to make others suffer as they had.

The world's greatest tragedy never told.

Danny turned to find his quarry. The burning in his lungs was becoming increasingly painful, and he was no longer certain that he couldn't drown like this.

"So you did come," said the voice of Ronan.

"We've been expecting you," Julia finished. The two marids floated into view, holding hands; they looked no different than they had on land. Danny opened his mouth to make some wisecrack about them not messing with his sister and found that he couldn't talk underwater like they could. Instead, he looked at them angrily and gripped the strap of the Fenton Thermos. They laughed.

"He thinks he's going to beat us, Julia."

"Let's show him otherwise, lover."

Danny mimed gagging as they kissed and fired an energy blast from each hand. Ronan and Julia were facing each other, but they turned their heads and gestured towards Danny. He didn't see the energy coming at him; all he saw was that something demolished his attack before slamming him into a rock. He went intangible and fazed through the rock to the other side.

He had thought he knew what to expect coming here. He fought them once before after all. But that was on land, where he was in his element. Now, he was in theirs.

He started to peek around the rock and came face to face with a leering cadaver. Ronan grabbed him by throat and slammed him against the rock again. "Since you seem so eager to share our fate…" he began.

Julia, naturally, finished. "…We'll be more than happy to oblige."

Danny struggled in Ronan's iron grip. This couldn't be it; he refused to die down here after all he'd been through since that fateful day all those months ago. He grabbed the restraining wrist in both hand and fired twin energy blasts at pointblank range. Ronan howled in agony and released him.

"Ronan!" Julia cried, rushing to his side. "Did he hurt you?"

As Danny rubbed his throat, he noticed something. They were so wrapped up in each other that they were no longer paying any attention to him. He grinned, and if it was a little evil, didn't they deserve it?

He went invisible and shot forward, fists outstretched, to crash into the already injured Ronan. Julia yelled again as her beloved was pummeled by the invisible boy. She couldn't attack without knowing exactly where Danny was, or she risked hitting Ronan.

Ronan twisted and turned, simultaneously trying to attack and defend. They had long since stopped trying to use power and were simply duking it out, a difficult feat when you can't see your opponent. He finally caught a lucky shot against the side of Danny's ear, and the boy went visible again out of pain. In retaliation, he fired an energy blast that solidly connected with Ronan's head and weakened him enough to be captured in the Fenton Thermos.

Julia sat crumpled on the bay floor and wept. Danny was half-tempted to pity her until he remembered what she tried to do to Jazz. He captured her alongside her lover and shot towards the surface. He wasn't sure if he could get back through the mural now, and he didn't want to waste any more time. His lungs felt like they were about to explode.

After what felt like eternity, he hit the surface, coughing and hacking up water. He hovered there for several minutes more just reveling in the ability to breathe air, then looked up at the sky. It was still as dark as it ever got here. He felt like he should say something, something witty, something intelligent. Sadly, the only thing that came to mind was "Thank goodness it's over."

* * *

It was a quaint little house in a quaint little neighborhood, with the obligatory white picket fence and twin ten-years-old boys playing with a German Shepherd puppy in the front yard. 

"And you say your sister knew my Katy?" asked the woman known as Elizabeth Cadwell. She and Danny were sitting on the porch of the little house, watching the children. At least, Danny was watching them.

"Um…I think so," he answered uncertainly. He had spent the past two days trying to come up with a logical explanation for why he knew Kat. "I…uh…found a picture of them…together…and I was just wondering."

Mrs. Cadwell chuckled slightly and adjusted her sunglasses. "You know, Danny. Right after Kat died, a lot of people showed up trying to tell me that they heard messages from her. Psychics…mediums…whatever they want to call themselves, it's still just mumbo-jumbo. I have two boys; I always know when they're lying to me."

Danny bit his lip, unsure of what to say to that.

"But you seem like a good boy," the woman continued. "At least, you're not trying to tell me you're friends with her ghost or something."

Danny laughed nervously. "Oh, no…heh. That would be ridiculous."

She turned her head slightly in his direction, but decided not to comment. Instead, she turned forward again and gripped her walking stick a little more tightly. "She was about five when it started," Mrs. Cadwell began in a faraway. "Her father was always in that basement of his, inventing something or other. I used to blame myself for what happened. If I hadn't started that affair with Keith, they might both still be alive.

"But I did, and I told Nick I was leaving him. He was so angry; he went straight down to his basement and started throwing things around. Kat started crying and followed him down, and I went after her. I don't really remember much of what happened, just this blinding light that gave me these." She tapped her sunglasses and sighed.

"After that, Kat would start sliding into comas. At first, it was more like she just blacked out for a few minutes, but they got longer as she grew up and the intervals between them got shorted. Towards the end, she had to stay in the hospital. She would be in those comas for days on end. The last one…the doctors said her brain had stopped functioning, that she would never wake up. We waited for months, but they were right. She was only fourteen, and we had to…"

She broke off there, but Danny already knew what she was going to say. After a few moments, she sniffled. "I have hated her father for that for so long. He took her life from her. I'm sorry; now, I'm rambling."

"It's okay," Danny said quietly.

Mrs. Cadwell turned sightless eyes in his direction again. "I trust that's all you needed?"

Danny nodded, remembered she couldn't see it, and said, "Yeah. Sorry, I didn't realize it was that bad."

The woman stood and looked down at him. "You know, the very last thing Katy said to me was that she would never die. She was so serious, I almost believed it. Goodbye, Danny."

Without another word, she walked into the house, leaving Danny to gaze on at Kat's little brothers.

* * *

A/N: There's still the epilogue, so nobody freak out. I am going to explain about Vlad. 


	8. Epilogue

Vlad Plasmius wasn't sure whether to be happy or angry. They were supposed to have killed each other off. That was the plan. Jazz was the bait for the star-crossed lovers, and Danny would get himself killed trying to rescue her, but preferably not before he got rid of them.

He decided to be angry. True, the artifact was unguarded, but he could have handled Ronan and Julia himself with considerably less of a wait. His whole reason for this little plan was to destroy Danny.

Oh, well. At least the artifact was unguarded.

He strode across the floor of the bay arrogantly as usual. The Heart of Thanatos had been stolen from the Ghost Zone many centuries ago and subsequently lost. Vlad had spent the better part of a year tracking it down only to find that two marids had taken up residence practically on top of it. If they had ever found it…

But they hadn't, and that was all that mattered.

He used his ectoplasmic energy blast to blow a rock to smithereens and reveal the cave beneath it. Inside, just as he had expected, was a chest containing a jet black sphere made of volcanic rock. He was still a bit uncertain as to what it did, exactly, but he had all the time he needed to find out.

* * *

It wasn't raining. For the first time in a week, the sky was clear and the air was dry. Granted, he wasn't in Federal Way anymore, but that was a moot point. Danny floated through the sky of Amity Park and vowed to never go near water again. That vow would last until summer vacation at the very latest, but that didn't matter either. Not now, not in the sky. 

Jazz seemed to have gotten over Roy; maybe it had just been Julia's influence. Danny was glad; he didn't like Roy. Roy was an idiot. He had told Sam and Tucker about the not-believing-in-ghosts comment. They were still laughing when they parted ways to go home from the mall.

Now, he was out looking for Kat. He had been by the school, her favorite bars, her parking garage…Of course, he finally found her in the cemetery. Of course, he had to actually go look because she only faded into view at a certain distance. Of course, she was leaning against her headstone with her top hat pushed down over her eyes, for all the world as though she was asleep. She pushed the brim up as he approached.

"I saw your mom," he said without preamble.

"Is she still the nitpicky hothead I remember her as?" Kat asked with real interest.

Danny shrugged. "I didn't talk to her for that long. She just told me how you died."

Kat raised an eyebrow and stood in order to sit on top of the stone. "I never died. I told her…she told you, right? I told her I would live forever."

"Kat, you fell into a coma. They pulled the plug. You're dead."

She grinned that Cheshire Cat grin of hers and shook her head slowly. "No, dear. My body fell into a coma because my mind was no longer there to sustain it. My body died when they pulled the plug. I'm still alive."

His confusion was clear on his face, but he had learned not to bother asking Kat questions. She would explain when she was ready. Or maybe she would explain when he was. Either way, she patted him on the head and grinned. "Cheers, Phantom. Cheerio!" And with a tip of her hat, she vanished in a blue smoke.

* * *

A/N: Thank you, CSkerries, for catching that. And thank you, everyone, for your reviews. Next one's up tomorrow.


End file.
